Setting Up Your Own Newsletter for Free with Mail Chimp (Part 1 of 2)

Total Read Time: 3 minutes

The other week, I announced I was launching my own newsletter on WaywardScribe.com, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, but I kept putting off because it seemed a little intimidating. (Sound familiar?) So this post is for anyone else out there in the same boat.

Once I finally forced myself to get going on the whole newsletter thing, it was actually quite easy. I ended up choosing Mail Chimp to use as my newsletter platform because:

• They have a broad, free plan available (up to 12,000 emails per month for 2,000 subscribers)

• Mail Chimp users gave the free plan really good reviews

Note: To comply with anti-spamming regulations, Mail Chimp requires you to provide a physical address that will appear in the footer of all your newsletter emails. If you don’t have a separate business address set up already, it’s probably best to invest in a PO box to avoid using your actual home address. (Hello, stalkers!)

Here’s how it works. First, you need to create a list you can add email addresses to via a subscription form (or manually, if you have some people you want to throw in there because you just know they will love getting unsolicited email from you). Then, you need to create a newsletter template, add your news content, and send it out to your list members. 

None of this is difficult, but there are a lot of steps to follow the first time you set up a newsletter, so I’m breaking this topic into 2 posts: Generating Subscription Forms (today’s post), and Designing Your Newsletter (to be posted this Thursday).

Generating Subscription Forms:

1.  Go to MailChimp.com and sign up for a free plan.

2.  Next, you will need to create a list by clicking the Lists heading at the top of the screen, followed by the big Create List button. If you already have email addresses to add to your list, you can do it here. If not, just create a descriptive list name, and fill in the other required fields. (From name, reply-to email address, etc.)

3.  Once your list is complete, you can click on the Design Signup Forms button (still in the Lists area of the site).

4.  If you look at the sidebar to the right side of the next screen, you will see a list of fields you can add to your forms. By default, only email address is set as a required field. Click on the various field names to add them to your forms.

5.  If you switch from the Add a Field tab to the Field Settings tab, you can play with the field settings, making other entry fields required as well.

6.  On the form in the middle of the screen, hover your mouse anywhere within the dotted line area to bring up an Edit button. You can click this button to open up a new screen that allows you to customize the text in your subscription forms. You can add links and images, and format your font as desired. If you hover your mouse over the header area of your subscription form, you will see options for editing it as well.

7.  Once you are happy with the first form, select the next one from the dropdown below Build It. (Most of these can be left with the default text, but make sure you review them first.)

8. To change the look of your subscription forms, click on the Design It tab. From here, you can choose color themes from the right sidebar and adjust the look of your header and outer wrapper.

9.  If you click on the Share It tab, you will get an HTML link to your subscribe form that you can add to your blog/website, as well as one of those fancy QR codes for smartphones.

You’re almost there! Now, you only need to design your newsletter. Remember to check back on Thursday for part 2 of this post. :)